Port Hope shipwreck designated a historic site

The P.B. Locke sank in Lake Ontario 101 years ago

Ship wreck in Port Hope

Karen Longwell / Northumberland News

PORT HOPE -- Raimund Krob, Save Our Shipwrecks provincial mooring program chairman, pulls up along side the new mooring placed at the location of the P.B. Locke shipwreck, discovered by three divers from the Nautilus Scuba Club of Cobourg and Port Hope in 2000. October 23, 2013.

P.B. Locke

William A. McDonald (Thunder Bay Research Collection)

PORT HOPE -- An undated photo of the schooner, the P.B. Locke, was built in Ohio in 1873 and sank off the coast of Port Hope in 1912. The shipwreck was located by divers in 2000 and in September a permanent mooring was placed near the wreck. Oct. 23, 2013.

But close to 80 feet below the water’s surface, the murkiness cleared and there she was -- the remains of a ship built 140 years ago.

It was 13 years ago, when Mr. Bird, along with Ron and Robert Johns -- all members of the Nautilus Scuba Club of Cobourg and Port Hope -- discovered the remains of the schooner P.B. Locke, close to five kilometres south of Cameco.

Mr. Bird recalls a friend telling him that while he was out fishing, sonar equipment picked up something big at the bottom of the lake.

“You could tell it was a ship. It was pretty exciting.” Alan Bird

“When we went out to find it, we were looking in a totally different area than they described, but our sonar picked up something too,” Mr. Bird said. “It was August and the water was a little murky. I didn’t think we’d find anything. But after 50 feet or so, the water cleared right up and we could see her as clear as day. You could tell it was a ship. It was pretty exciting.”

It was the first ship he’d found in his 30 years of diving in the area.

Built in Ohio in 1873, the P.B. Locke -- a 136-foot, three-mast wooden schooner -- sailed the Great Lakes for many years, before being repurposed as a barge for Point Anne Quarries Ltd. out of the Bay of Quinte. She sank during a storm in 1912 while carrying a cargo of stone. No lives were lost.

In order to attract scuba divers to the area and protect the historic underwater site, the shipwreck was outfitted with a permanent mooring in September, placed by the Save Ontario Shipwrecks’ Toronto chapter.

Raimund Krob, chairman of the shipwreck mooring program for SOS, said the P.B. Locke is the 66th shipwreck to be recognized with a permanent mooring and the first for the Northumberland County area.

“The Great Lakes and rivers are becoming the premier fresh water shipwreck capitol of the world,” Mr. Krob said. “These ships are miniature time capsules that need to be protected.”

On Oct. 23, Port Hope officials, the Port Hope Historical Society, SOS and other local dignitaries joined Mr. Krob as a commemorative plaque was unveiled at the Navy League of Canada building on Mill Street in Port Hope. The plaque will be bolted to a 300-pound concrete slab and placed on the bottom near the wreck on Oct. 26.

During the ceremony, Mr. Krob said the mooring operation involved the lowering of two, two-ton concrete blocks and connection by a line and tackle to a Canadian Coast Guard mooring buoy at the surface, equipped with radar reflector, flasher and tagline.

“The mooring will help prevent damage to the ship and help prevent the loss of expensive fishing gear,” Mr. Krob said.

He said along with increasing scuba diving-related tourism to the Port Hope and Northumberland County area, the mooring buoy will help reduce fishing tackle entanglement and anchor damage to the shipwreck.

SOS has been operating for more than 30 years and is 100 per cent volunteer based with funding from the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport.

Port Hope Mayor Linda Thompson said the municipality does a great job of preserving its heritage.

“But it’s wonderful to see the community come together to recognize our underwater history,” Mayor Thompson said. “The long-term effect of this wreck and the mooring will be huge as we move forward developing our waterfront and our showcasing our heritage.”

(1) Comment

By Brian|OCTOBER 25, 2013 03:13 PM

The PB Locke is a favourite dive site for our many of us who come out to dive and visit the lovely Port Hope area.
Along with those mentioned in the article several others contributed time and dollars to make this happen including River Diver Charters, Banners Plus and Dive Source Scuba in Oshawa. There was also considerable time put into the project by Raimund Krob, Carmin Bencasa and Karen Malone who did a lot of hands on work.
SOS is a TERRIFIC organization that keeps Ontario's underwater marine heritage alive and creates living history museums for divers and snorkelers to see and enjoy. This was a job well done and I applaud you all.